Kosovo Rebels Said to Allow Violence Against the Serbs

By CARLOTTA GALL

Published: August 3, 1999

PRISTINA, Kosovo, Aug. 2—
The murders, abductions, threats and beatings of Serbs and Gypsies in Kosovo have largely been the work of members of the Kosovo Liberation Army, says Human Rights Watch in a report, asserting that neither the guerrilla army's leaders nor the international force are doing enough to stop the violence.

The report, a copy of which was shown to The New York Times by an author before its official release on Tuesday, details cases in which Kosovo Albanians are believed to have intimidated, beaten or killed members of ethnic minorities.

In many cases the perpetrators were wearing the liberation army uniforms or identified themselves as members, the report says, adding that the security forces have said that not everyone arrested in a liberation army uniform is a member.

The report does not accuse the rebel leadership of directing the violence, but condemns the inability to stop it.

''We do not have any evidence of a policy or of official sanctioning, but it is clear it is widespread, and in some cases local K.L.A. units are involved,'' said Ben Ward, a researcher for Human Rights Watch who contributed to the report.

The report includes 40 documented killings of Serbs and two of Gypsies, as well as recounting 30 documented cases of beatings or abductions.

''The most serious incidents of violence have been carried out by members of the Kosovo Liberation Army,'' the report states.

It includes testimony by a young Gypsy who said liberation army members had interrogated and abused him. It also details slayings of elderly Serbian civilians by men described as uniformed liberation army members.

''The frequency and severity of such abuses make it incumbent upon the K.L.A. leadership to take swift and decisive action to prevent them,'' the study contends.

Human Rights Watch suggests that the motivation is largely revenge for violence by Serbs and that the goal is to drive the Serbs out of Kosovo. Some 100,000 non-Albanians have fled Kosovo in the six weeks since NATO forces arrived, and there has been widespread looting and arson of their houses.

The report does not try to cover the spectrum of the violence that has erupted since the conflict ended and ethnic Albanians began returning. The security forces reported 198 murders in the period that ended on July 26.

Security forces and foreign observers here said that although they were sure guerrilla leaders did not condone the violence, they did tolerate it.

''There is tolerance for this rather than deliberate coordination,'' said a military observer who works for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

The rebel army has denied that its members are responsible for most of the killings. A senior commander and the chief of the military police, Fatmir Limaj, said that criminals were responsible for the murders and intimidation and that some of them might have posed as guerrillas.

''The K.L.A. had every possibility during the war to attack Serb civilians, but we never did,'' Mr. Limaj, now deputy defense minister of Kosovo's self-appointed government, said in an interview today. ''We have won our freedom and we want to build the future of our people, but not at the expense of other people. That has always been the political-military philosophy of the K.L.A.''

Mr. Ward said the response by the NATO force and the United Nations administration had been ''belated and insufficient.''

''There is little evidence of a firm commitment to a new and tolerant Kosovo,'' in which minorities can live without discrimination, the report concludes.

According to the report, the southern town of Prizren, once renowned for its ethnically mixed population, was the scene of particularly brutal murders of two elderly Serbs, Marica Stamenkovic, 77, and Panta Filipovic, 63, on June 21. Mrs. Stamenkovic's husband, Trifun, and Mr. Filipovic's wife, Marica, returned from shopping in midmorning to find their spouses' throats cut. Security forces arrived soon after.

The Filipovics' neighbors said they had seen rebel soldiers enter the house. The killings occurred after days of intimidation from guerrillas who had demanded money and threatened the couples, who had decided to stay on in Prizren, although most Serbs had left.

Although some cases in the report detail the deaths of Serbs who had been accused of atrocities against Albanians, many appear to have been innocent civilians. Some have been caught up in what Human Rights Watch describes as an ''on going conflict'' between armed Serbian civilians and rebel units in eastern Kosovo.

Gypsies have also experienced severe violence at the hands of returning Albanians. Widely accused of collaborating with the Serbian police and military forces, they have been subjected to beatings, abductions and threats that have forced most to flee or seek protection in a tented camp outside Pristina.

One account in the report is from a Gypsy identified as F. F., 23, who said he was abducted near his house in Pristina by uniformed rebels on June 21 and taken to a base in the Dragodan district.

''They beat me until I fainted,'' he is quoted. ''Then they put water on my face, and when I woke up, they beat me again.

''Then they asked me who was in uniform and which ones did some killing. They asked me if I was in uniform. After that, they brought photos with names on a piece of paper. They would show me a picture and say, 'Do you recognize this man?' All the time beating me.''

He said a man who identified himself as the commander for Dragodan and Pristina, joined by others, ''took me to another room.''

The report urges the immediate deployment of the promised 3,000-member international police force. Kosovo now has 35 foreign officers, and the burden of policing is left to the military police in the NATO-led force.

Human Rights Watch called for guerrilla leaders to investigate and prosecute members who have been involved in abuses of human rights and to curtail further abuses.

Mr. Limaj countered accusations that the rebels were not doing anything to stop the violence, saying movements and activities were restricted by the demilitarization agreement that confines its members to base.

''But we will try,'' he said, ''to create conditions for all people to stay. It is our duty to do that.''

Photo: About 1,500 Gypsy refugees have been moved to a camp in Obilic from a site that was classified as unsanitary. A human rights report says Gypsies are seeking refuge from violence by returning Albanians. (Tyler Hicks for The New York Times)